Biloxi Rouses has an opening date, latest on new MS Coast restaurants opening & fall menus

The long awaited date for the opening of the new Rouses Market on Pass Road in Biloxi is Oct. 16.

It’s taken a year to transform the vacant building at the corner of Pass and Popp’s Ferry Roads into the newest Rouses Market. The company opened another South Mississippi location in September in Picayune.

The 40,000-square-foot store will have all the popular Rouses Market features along with a sausage kitchen, smokehouse and seafood boiling room.

A ribbon cutting will be held at 9 a.m. on Oct. 16. Later in the day, the city will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the Popp’s Ferry Extension, which will connect Popp’s Ferry directly to U.S. 90 and the beach, opening more area for development.

The new Rouses is the top of the food news in South Mississippi, and there’s plenty more on the table. More new restaurants are opening and fall menus are spicing things up for October and Halloween.

Here’s more food news for the Coast:

New restaurants

▪ Hana Pho Vietnamense restaurant has reopened in Biloxi. Previously on Pass Road at Eisenhower, the restaurant closed after a fire damaged the building. It’s now open at 538 Division St., near the Kroc Center. Open 7 days week, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

▪ Hurley Hibachi & Asian Cuisine will be opening soon on U.S. 90 in Ocean Springs, at the former Ichiban location.

▪ Radish restaurant in Long Beach on Sept. 30 teamed up with White Pillars for a “Siren worthy pop-up” for the new Siren Social Club coming to Hotel Vela in downtown Gulfport. The pop-up featured food and cocktails from their new menu.

▪ The Coast also is waiting for the opening of Arby’s on Promenade Parkway in D’Iberville and two new restaurants in the shopping on Lamey Bridge Road at Sangani Boulevard.

Pink drinks

Pink Your Drink is a fundraiser at Hard Rock Casino Biloxi. Through October, Bally’s Corporation, parent company of Hard Rock Biloxi, will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society for every Pink Your Drink cocktail or mocktail sold,, and also contribute $10,000 to the ACS and the fight to end breast cancer.

This year is Hard Rock Biloxi’s 25th annual Pinktober campaign in October to benefit Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

Halloween frights

Also at Hard Rock Biloxi, Sugar Factory Biloxi has created a Halloween menu of meals and treats for October. Sliders will be served on blood red buns and Black Widow Pops are crispy mac and cheese tossed in Nashville hot sauce.

For something sweeter, pumpkin patch waffles are topped with Nutella, chocolate chips and candy. A Halloween kick comes in the form of a Vampire Kiss specialty cocktail with champagne bubbles and the Toxic Zombie covered with candy eyes.

Burger King introduces its Addams Family Menu on Oct. 10, featuring a Wednesday Whopper on a purple potato bun and black sesame seeds. Also on the menu are Gomez’s Churro Fries and Morticia’s Kooky Chocolate Shake.

Autumn spice on the Coast

Many Coast restaurants change up their menus with fall flavors in October. Here is a sampling:

Radish restaurant in Long Beach just introduced the fall menu that features sweet tea brined roasted half chicken with maple Cream and a whole Gulf flounder stuffed with shrimp and crab. Owner/chef William Rester said they change to a fall menu for several reasons.

“We like to use produce that is in season, so we plan dishes that embrace that idea,” he said. “Often times, we’ve been researching different types of cuisines or dishes and we want to adapt them to our particular style. This fall, we wanted to plant some coastal roots, so we’re using whole fish for the first time and really digging into things like jambalaya grits, which use a jambalaya base with Mississippi stone ground grits from Delta Grind.”

The Roasted Bean at Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi has pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bread loaves, apple cider, chai latte cupcake and peppermint mocha latte

Rock N’ Roll Sushi restaurants in D’Iberville and Gulfport will roll out new fall additions to the menu Oct. 7, including Hot Hot Honey Roll, Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice and the Sake Mule.

PJ’s Coffee has pumpkin latte, S’Mores Velvet Ice and Bananas Foster Cold Brew Cream through Nov. 3

Chill Sloth Ice Cream & Smoothies in Wiggins is new and has a new fall menu with apple cider floats, pumpkin pie shakes, cozy Campfire sundae with all the components of a s’more in a cup and their own Wiggins maple pecan shake.

There’s no more Krispy Kreme standalone stores on the Coast, but there are fall assortments of donuts by the box at Coast Walmart and other stores.

Fall flavors roundup

Starbucks made pumpkin spice famous and other national chains have followed by adding spice to their fall menus. Here are some of the specials:

Chick-fil-A — Honey pepper or spicy pimento chicken sandwich, banana pudding milkshake

Cracker Barrel — Granny smith apple mimosa or apple tea, Southern apple cobbler, fried apple french toast bake

Dunkin’ Donuts — Pumpkin spice signature latte, apple cider donut, new Dunkalatte latte with espresso, maple sugar bacon breakfast sandwich, pumpkin donuts and Munchkins and streusel-topped pumpkin muffin

IHOP — Pumpkin spice pancakes, maple pumpkin cheesecake pancakes and pumpkin spice cold foam cold brew

McDonald’s — Pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin iced coffee and pumpkin and creme pie

Smoothie King— Variety of pumpkin smoothies

Starbucks — New iced apple crisp and nondairy cream chai. cream cold brew, apple crisp oatmilk macchiato, iced pumpkin cream chai, iced apple crisp oatmilk shaken espresso and pumpkin and apple food items.